Inn Witch They Pig Out

That first night, Margaret convinced the others that they should leave early in the morning and leave the old man behind. Everyone reluctantly agreed, and early in the morning they were getting ready to leave when guards from the capital accosted them saying that Margaret and Chase were wanted for questioning by the head inquisitor in the capital.

Margaret wanted to stall, so insisted she left something behind upstairs and needed to get it. Two guards were going to go along, but Chase insisted that his sister not be left alone. So they went up to the room, and looked around, but the guards were getting frustrated at Margaret. Meanwhile, Walt and Peter were unsaddling the guards’ horses and having the stable boy take them out to pasture.

Chase convinced them that it might be in the old mans room – a room full of chicken feathers. The guards reluctantly agreed, and in the room Margaret’s thoughts turned to the black glove – She didn’t know what it did other than “drain things.” She put it on, and vanished.

Chase freaked out and the guards immediately drew steel and ushered him outside. Margaret, meanwhile, went out to the stables and was going to cast Phantasmagoria. As the guards came outside, Peter drew his wand and “grabbed” three of the five swords away from the guard.

Peter from atop the wagon in a meek voice, attempted to intimidate the guards into backing down. They would have none of it. At that point, Chase, took off running, easily beating his captors. Peter set the wagon in motion, and Walt successfully repelled on of the guardsman who attempted to get onto the wagon. The character’s uncle then stepped up and unleashed bolts of green energy turning three of the guardsmen into pigs.

Chase continued to elude his captors and Margaret completed her spell, but failed her Forte such that she couldn’t maintain the spell. As Chase passed the stable, Margaret stepped out and cast the Fear. The pursuing guards dropped their shields and ran. Margaret was out for blood, but Chase talked her down by and they all beat a hasty retreat.

Commentary

This was a fun scene and had a good cadence. We may have been able to condense the scene into a few less “rounds” by having a clearer statement of intent. We should all learn to lean on the “Let it Ride” principal.

I would’ve preferred that the character’s uncle’s deus ex machina wand wouldn’t have incapacitated 3 of the 5 guards. Uncle’s action diminished the player agency of our characters; The characters had gotten into the mess and the characters should get out of it; Either by way of a Circles test or some other sequence of tests.

Into the Woods

The characters travelled towards the Monastery of the Jade Flame, opting to travel north of the Boiling Pools and through the overrun forest. A failed orienteering test lead to a turn for the worse; A walking dead elf ambushed the characters. Chase, Walt, Claudio and Margaret were all horrified.

Commentary

This also was a good scene, as we delved deeper into an unfriendly and unknown forest. There was a sense of foreboding given that we had failed our Orienteering test. Afterwards, the characters all worked to build sensible fortifications when setting up camp.

I feel that the sequence of actions was off for the conflict. The GM asked the characters to make Steel tests upon seeing the walking dead. We then immediately went into scripted Fight, with the walking dead close enough to engage in melee for the first exchange.

I feel a Perception vs. Stealthy test to detect the walking dead would’ve been a good first step. It went too quickly from “there’s something out there” to “it’s right in my face.” An intermediate test would’ve given help me accept that the walking dead was right in Margaret’s face (even if the test was B4 vs. Ob 6, it still offered Margaret a chance).